David Schlemko wore number 6 while playing defenseman for the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2010/2011 NHL season. His salary for the time he spent on the ice that season was reportedly $550,000. The total team salary for the Phoenix Coyotes was reportedly $48,212,500, so his salary represented 1.1% of that total team payroll. We can compare his salary to the other players on his team. The median salary for a player on the Phoenix Coyotes was $1,300,000, while the average salary was $1,928,500. He played a total of 43 games that season, with 4 goals and 10 assists - a total of 14 points. If we divide his reported salary by the number of games played, we find he earned $12,790.70 per game played. David Schlemko had a plus/minus of 8, 24 PIM (penalties in minutes), 0 PP (power play goals), 0 SH (short-handed goals), 0 GWG (game winning goals), and took 47 shots. He had a shooting percentage in the 2010/2011 season of 8.50%. We can divide his salary by the number of goals scored, as well as by the number of points (goals plus assists), if we want to try to evaluate his performance strictly on offense. His salary per goal scored was $137,500 and his salary per point was $39,286.

But then, there are taxes. Each hockey season is played during two calendar years, however, given an annual salary in the U.S. of $550,000 we can estimate that he would have to pay $167,784 in federal income taxes. That is about the same amount of tax as the tax paid by 21 median high school teachers, 23 median police officers, or 33 median fire fighters. After paying the IRS, he would have $382,216 left over. However, he may still have to use some of that money to pay state or city taxes as well.

About the author

Author: Mark McCracken is a corporate trainer and author living in Higashi Osaka, Japan. He is the author of thousands of online articles as well as the Business English textbook, "25 Business Skills in English".